Minto Aizawa
|team= Tokyo Mew Mew |base= Café Mew Mew |weapon= MinTone Arrow Mew Aqua Rod (Manga) |status= Alive |family= Seiji Aizawa (older brother) Unnamed parents |manga= Volume 1, Chapter 1: In the Beginning |anime = Episode 02: A New Comrade, Justice Lies in a Real Lady! |game= Hamepane Tōkyō Myū Myū |japanese= Yumi Kakazu |english= Andi Whaley |image gallery = Yes}}Minto Aizawa is a character in the manga and anime series Tokyo Mew Mew, and one of the main heroines of the story. She is the second Mew Mew to be introduced and her D.N.A is merged with the Blue Lorikeet. Plot Minto's Childhood When Minto was a child, she would show her dancing to her older brother. But one day, her brother was taken to a prestigious school. They never spoke to one another much afterward. Besides that, Minto had a wonderful childhood. She used to see her parents often inside her home before they became focused on work. Minto was learning Ballet as a little girl and was becoming a very good dancer. She had many recitals and shows. She was a starter ballerina but soon became a Prima Ballerina. Tokyo Mew Mew Minto is actually afraid of being hurt and as a result she quits the Mew Project but shortly returns. Minto lives in a large mansion with her brother and unnamed parents, along with a Nanny who cares for Minto due to her parents being away. She also owns a small dog, Mickey, who turns into a Chimera Anima and is the cause of Minto's first transformation into a Mew Mew. Minto is a very strong admirer of Zakuro Fujiwara and is sad when Zakuro initially refuses to join the Mew Mews. When Zakuro eventually decides to join the Mew Project, Minto is extremely happy. Many fans believe that Minto is in love with Zakuro but it's quite common for fan-girls in Japan to idolize someone famous to the point that they love them (both in a romantic way or otherwise). Personality Minto was initially depicted as spoiled, snobbish, and self-centered because of her wealth (like most rich girls), but is later shown to really be an empathetic and loving person who cares deeply about her friends. She idolizes Zakuro Fujiwara, who frequently influences Minto's decisions as a Mew Mew. Zakuro is also one of the few people Minto is nice to the most. Minto is, despite her relatively small size, extremely headstrong and can be very powerful when cooperating with her teammates. She enjoys dancing, particularly in the style of ballet. Her favorite food is French food and scones. She slightly dislikes common food (i.e. fast food, canned food, etc.) but will eat it if given to her. Appearance Civilian Minto has blue-grey hair that is seen often in buns. She wears a mid-thigh formal black dress with tights and black pumps. Cafe Mew Mew Minto's waitress uniform is a blue color scheme that is similar to the other waitresses outfits. Mew Mew When changing into Mew Mint, Minto's hair changes from blue-grey to dark blue and keeps it in buns. Her eyes change from brown to deep blue. She wears a short aquamarine dress that only reaches past her waist. She has garters of the same color with dark blue lacing on her arms and left leg. She has a choker, the same color as her outfit, with her Mew Pendant hangs off of. She has blue gloves and ankle boots. She has a dark blue feathered tail and wings. Her Mew Mark is a pair of bird wings on her back between her shoulder-blades. Relationships Family Minto's family is very wealthy. She wears expensive clothes and she is the heiress to all of the family's money. However, her mother and father are never at home when she is, and they do not attend her ballet recitals, so Minto spends more time with her Nanny, Baya (The English dub changes this character to be Minto's Grandmother). Minto does not spend a lot of time with her brother, Seiji, either. Though when she was younger he would watch her practice dancing. The family all live together in a mansion. Minto owns a small puppy named Mickey, who she cares about greatly. Abilities As a Civilian Mint is a talented dancer and is very flexible and gracious. Despite her fragile appearance, she is very enduring. She demonstrates a certain skill in hand-to-hand combat, even if she doesn't show it all the time. She knows how to swim. She seems to have archery skills, as demonstrated by her use of the MinTone Arrow. Transformation Minto's transformation references her love and dedication to ballet dancing. During the beginning of the transformation, she kisses her Mew pendant and bends backward gracefully while her DNA morphs. Afterward, she strikes an arabesque pose, twirls, and leaps into the air, trailing bright blue feathers behind her. She begins a series of elaborate ballerina twirls and dance moves while her Mew uniform appears on her body and her wings and tail plumage appear on her back. The transformation concludes with her Mew Pendant bursting from a small encasing of bright blue feathers and Mew Mint striking her finishing pose. Weapons and Attacks Mew Mint's weapon is the MinTone Arrow and her attack is Ribbon Mint Echo. This attack involves her summoning a bow and arrow out of a windy burst of feathers, charging up a shock-wave, and releasing it into a light pink blade of energy. Mew Mint's second attack only shown in the manga is when she acquires the Mew Aqua Rod. Her rod is pink and her attack is Mew Aqua Drops. International Name Changes (Manga) As in most cases, the characters' names in Tokyo Mew Mew went through changes upon translation. For English manga translations, TokyoPop and Kodansha used the food translations for both the characters' names and Mew Mew names. For the Singapore English translation, publisher Chuang Yi chose to keep both the civilian and secret identity names. Name Changes (Anime) Tokyo Mew Mew was dubbed and localized in many different languages. The names of the characters were also subject to change. Many of the dubs that didn't use Minto/Mint or Corina often translated their words for "Mint" as her first name; for example, Bò-Hé, and Menta mean 'mint' in their respective language. Trivia *According to her official profile for the Playstation game, she is a 1st-year middle schooler, same as Ichigo. However, since Minto's birthday is October 3rd, Minto is older, and would age to 13 by that date. The Japanese school year begins in April and ends in late March, meaning Minto ages to 13 not long after the series begins. * In an episode of Mew Mew Power, Corina says she sings karaoke, but in Tokyo Mew Mew, Minto says she can't sing. *In Tokyo Mew Mew, while it does seem that Minto has a crush on Zakuro, In Japan, it is common to idolize Japanese singers or models like Minto does. *In Mew Mew Power, Corina's fixation on Renee has been toned down, yet her attraction to men has been cut out completely, as seen in the picture to the left. Either way, Corina seems to be more infatuated with Renee than Minto was ever with Zakuro. *There is a constant goof in the anime where Minto's hair suddenly becomes the color of her Mew Mew form for a few scenes, then reverting back to normal. The same happens with her eyes, changing them from brown to blue in some scenes for a while. At one point in the anime, Minto's eyes became bright pink whilst being Mew Mint. *Minto tends to avoid work by saying that she does a "taste test" for the tea, much to the irritation of Ichigo. She also overconfidently mentioned how she came to the Café earlier, despite this not compensating at all for the lack of work she does. ** In fact, Minto almost never works once in the Café throughout the entire anime, with the only instances being when it is overworked and she is shown in the background dealing with orders. She also usually covers for Ichigo whenever she is absent and usually holds it over her every chance she gets. References Japanese school system page. ("School year starts in April and ends in March.")